Saturday, March 29, 2008

A museum-worthy crap

The Queens Chronicle alerts us that the Italian American Museum Found a New Home at Mulberry and Grand Streets in Little Italy. Unsatisfied with the current quaint design, they plan to top it off with a King Kong-sized dung pile that spans the three buildings:Notice how the crap oozes over the sides, replacing a column of windows. Just one example of how Italians are leaving their architectural mark on NYC.

That's for sure! Part of the problem may be money, which is the bottom line of every architect and developer. How can anyone build anything nice when they're weighing the cost of every brick and ounce of mortar? Nothing wrong with being economical, but not when taken to this extreme.

Im 3nd generation Italian and totally disgusted by this Italian Eurosh*t's plans of stucco and steel done on computers to make use of every scrap cut to save $$.Places like Little Italy, Ridgewood were built brick by brick by real craftsmen and artists.

One of the top 5 worst design renderings citywide in the past decade! One would think the Italian-American Museum would have respect for their roots in the vicinity, but it's apparently one huge contradiction. Horrifying!

Yep, Shell, Bush, Bloomberg and the Dems running Congress want to stick it right up our ass !

The US Coast Guard said no way could it be protected, it could kill 4 million people clear 1/2 of Long Island and 1/2 CT coastline if hit by terrorists.(Im sure Bloomberg, Bush and the rest of the Dem-liberal mob would see love all the old school New Yorkers dead, take the land and give it to all the new voters and Billionare's)

I lived in one of the Stier row houses on Seneca Ave and Norman street.Cost $36K in 1971, everbody had figs and tomatos growing in the yard. Then the old Germans died off and there kids sold to anybody.

Now much of the sandstone stoops and iron work is gone replaced with brick gates and steel bars on the windows.

All the London Plane trees (the ones that drop the itchie balls) are gone.The Asians and Mid Eastern's landlords drilled holes and poured battery acid in them so they dont have to sweep !!(Lower Ridgewood)

......Ahhhh Makes me sick, Even a Pizza Hut and Taco Bell down there !!

The architect must have been looking for inspiration when he saw a dog take a crap, and a little light bulb went on and he thought.. yes, let me design a building that looks like a fresh pile of doggie shit. And he's done a pretty damn fine job of that. Maybe he'll take it to the next level and make the pile steam when the weather is cold. Perhaps open up the sewers to add the appropriate smell. Maybe they'll face it with a special material that turns white as it ages.

If someone wanted to design a meseum to look like a piece of feces, it should have been a dedicated to the mayor Michael Bloomberg legacy, a fitting tribute to what he's allowing the city to turn into.

Only "IGNORANCE AND J-E-A-L-O-U-S-Y can account for all the "crap" you all proclaim. But the questions is: Did any of you gave a "crap" or at least A-T-T-E-M-P-T-E-D to do ANYTHING about trying to P-R-E-S-E-R-V-E your "so called" Italian heritage? Why do so many of our young Italian Americans can not even speak Italian? Could it be because their own "un-educated" parents wanted "NOTHING" to do with preserving their heritage? Of course, now that someone has the "GUTS" to confront and succeed against ALL obstacles.....you CRITICIZE! Take a good look in your mirror and ask your self if you are "worthy" of proclaiming to be an ITALIAN. A building is JUST A BUILDING. What really counts is that for once New York will have a place where Italians-Americans can reconnect with their ancestry. By the way - I'M NOT EVEN ITALIAN! But my kids have Italian ancestry and I want them to be proud of both their heritages.

The little red building is-was charming. The new building is not charming. Its cold and mishapen, and not on a human scale.The new building is once againDESIGN for DESIGN sake. LOOK AT US...we can DESIGN! Rather than present a form that serves a function and design style that the neighborhood would appreciate. Aren't the architects just full of themselves. When will new city architecture begin to serve the people not the architects???!!! Its not just NY. Design appreciation has exploded in the last 5 years due to the internet. That seems to be giving designers a false sense of importance. Its always about who and what purpose the building should serve, not about design exclusively. So hear that architects its not about you.

One last thing, When the rest of us out-of-staters come to New York to visit, its not the fancy-shmancy high-tech architecture that we want to see, it is definately the charming and authentic New York - that New York history grew one neighborhood at a time, Little Italy, China Town, whatev-a. How about creative rennovation vs new bizzare architecture that just DOES NOT FIT the environment. When it doesn't fit - it ain't right... its right ...when it fits. Betty.

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